EU to resume Galileo satellite launch program
March 27, 2015
(Reuters) – The European Union is set to send two navigation satellites into orbit on Friday aboard a Russian rocket, in its first launch since a botched deployment in August that cost several million euros to fix.
The Galileo project to set up an EU alternative to the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) is obliged to use the Russian Soyuz system until a development of Ariane space’s European Ariane 5 rocket is ready around the end of the year, despite strained relations with Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine.